ESS 1 The Earth and earth materials as we know them today have developed over long periods of time, through continual change processes.
ESS1 (9-11)—4 Students demonstrate an understanding of processes and change over time by …
4a describing various dating methods to determine the age of different rock structures.
National Standards:
Science as Inquiry - Content Standard A: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop
Understandings about scientific inquiry
Earth and Space Science - Content Standard D: As a result of grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding of
Origin and evolution of the earth system
Context of Lesson:
This is the opening lesson to the unit on Evolution. It is important to start the unit on Evolution by addressing the key concepts above because it provides a background on evidence for evolution. We will start by briefly reviewing the formation of the Earth by having students answer a warm-up question, which will activate prior knowledge, serve as a review, and allow misconceptions to be addressed. We will then look at the history in rocks, formation of fossils, fossils as evidence for evolution, and relative and radiometric dating, first by watching video clips, answering questions, and taking notes, and then through class discussions. The video clips provide a real look into the formation of fossils and how scientists use the fossils as evidence for evolution, and how they use the methods discussed to date rocks, which allows students to get a visual for these processes opposed to simply reading about them. Students will also complete the lab “Determining a Rock’s Age," which will give them a hands-on opportunity to further comprehend the dating method and analyze the results.
Opportunities to Learn:
Depth of Knowledge
Webbs Level 1 (Recall & Reproduction) - Represent in words or diagrams a scientific concept or relationship
Webb's Level 2 (Skills & Concepts) - Interpret information from a simple graph; Collect and display data
Prerequisite Knowledge
Using data to develop scientific conclusions and explanations
Geological concepts and plate tectonics
Plans for Differentiating Instruction
Questions will be adjusted as needed. Higher level questions will be added to the video question sheets for students who can handle them, or want to be challenged.
Students will be grouped as to succeed in performing the lab. Peer-teachers will be provided for students who require the extra help/explanation.
The complexity of the graph for the lab will be differentiated by having students who excel will use 100 pennies for the lab, while students who have more difficulties will use 50 pennies. The number of pennies relates to the amount of time it takes to count the pennies and then graph the data points. The lab and resulting graph will be less complex when done with 50 pennies.
Accommodations and modifications
Students with poor vision and or hearing difficulties will be provided a handout with the video summaries to refer back to.
Environmental factors
The classroom is arranged in three rows with four tables in each row. Each table has two or three students sitting at it.
Whole class opening, discussions and videos.
The TV monitor is mounted on the wall in the front right of the classroom - students will move their seat if they cannot see from the back of the classroom.
Small groups to complete the Determining a Rock's Age lab.
Be sure that you can access these videos in school.
Objectives:
After this lesson students will be able to:
1. Describe the formation of fossils (artifact = written in notes)
2. Explain how scientists use fossils as evidence for evolution (artifact = written in notes)
3. Define relative and radiometric dating (artifact = written in notes)
4. Create a graph of the ½ life of K-40 into Ar-40 (artifact = graph created from lab)
5. Analyze data and make conclusion about radiometric dating (artifact = answers to homework questions).
Instruction:
Opening:
1. As students enter the classroom, the warm-up will be written on the board – “What was the early Earth like, when did it form, and how have scientists come to these conclusions?”
2. As students finish the warm-up have them share what they wrote. (pg 369 will provide answers to the first two parts of the question. Students may come up with fossils, research, ice cores, etc. as evidence for scientists to make these conclusions)
3. "Is there a way to confirm the Earth formed this way?" Do not give students the answer. (No, there is not. Rocks cannot provide information about the infancy of the Earth, but they are very important in looking at the diversity of life that has existed on Earth).
4. "Where can we look to get insight into our past?" (rocks, fossils) "How do we learn more about these insights? Is there a way to link them all together?"
5. "By the end of class today, we will know how scientists uncover insights into our past and the process that links all these insights together." Good opening!
Engagement:
Part 1: Rocks and Fossils - Evidence for Evolution
1. Have students watch the video “Evolving Ideas: How do We Know Evolution Happens?” (7 min 4 sec) and provide the following questions to answer in their notebooks: Will you have these questions on the board or transparency so students can answer them during the video?
How do scientists tell time in geology? (through strata, layering)
What can we learn from fossil evidence? (evolutionary transitions, ex. wolf to whale, fish to amphibian. Allows evolutionary biologists to piece together ancestors and family trees)
What other fossils do you think are found in the Valley of Whales that allowed Gingerich to make the conclusion that the desert area was once a sea?
2. Discuss the questions as a class. Have students check and correct, if necessary, the answers they wrote in their notebooks.
3. Explain to students that the next video will allow them to see how fossils are formed. Have students watch the video “Becoming a Fossil” (2 min 34 sec) and provide them with the following questions to answer in their notebooks:
Why do most living things not leave fossils behind?
How are fossils formed? (page 373 in text has good diagram)
How are fossils found?
I like this strategy for using videos: Keep videos short and provide students with questions that they can try to answer as they watch.
4. Discuss the questions as a class. Have students check and correct, if necessary, the answers they wrote in their notebooks.
Part 2: Dating Rocks
1. "Now that we learned a little bit about rocks and fossils, what must we be able to do in order to make the rocks and fossils useful in understanding our past?" (date them, find their age). "Does anyone have any ideas how this information can be achieved?" (Might get answers about putting them into a machine that identifies the age of the rock, look it up in a book, chemicals in the rocks/fossils, based on where it is found and other rocks around it).
2. Show the video “Radiometric Dating” (1 min 38 sec) and have students take a few notes on the video.
3. After the video ask students if they have a more detailed answer about how to determine the age of rocks. Have students share with the class what they learned in the video (video focuses on radiometric dating).
4. "Before we get a chance to see how radiometric dating works, we are going to look at another method to date rocks."
5. Draw four people on the board (baby, toddler, teen, adult, old person). "By looking at this drawing only, who can put these people in order by age?" "Easy, right? How did you do it?" (By looking at what's around it, look at the picture as a whole). "Scientists use a similar method called relative dating to determine the age of rocks. By looking at what else is around the rock, we can tell which is oldest, youngest, and in the middle." Draw a rock strata on the board. "Who can tell me which rock layer is oldest and which is youngest?" (make sure students understand the bottom layer is oldest and the top is youngest - make the connection to a stack of newspapers piling up in corner of room).
6. "We have one type of rock dating under control, so let's go back to radiometric dating to explore that process."
7. Break up the class into groups of four and have them complete the lab “Determining a Rock’s Age,” on page 386-387 in their textbook. Are the instructions self-explanatory? If not, you may have to demonstrate the procedure.
8. Have students begin to answer the Analyze and Conclude questions when they complete the lab. What will you be doing during the lab?
Closure:
1. Give the students a 5 minutes warning with 15 minutes to go in class. With ten minutes left bring the class back together.
2. Quick review of the difference between relative and radiometric dating. Have students write the definitions in their notebooks to have as a reference.
3. Answer questions one and two as a class from the Analyze and Conclude section of the lab.
4. "What was our goal at the beginning of class?" (Have students recall that we were looking for how scientists uncover insights into our past and the process that links all these insights together) "Did we find an answer?" (Student answers should include dating rocks and using fossils to help explain our past, and the process of evolution as the process that links all the parts of Earth's history.)
5. Have students complete questions three through six for homework.
Good lesson.
Assessment:
1. Formative assessment of student answers to the warm-up.
2. Formative assessment of student answers to questions on the video.
3. Formative assessments as students complete the lab.
4. Completed graph from the lab.
5. Completed homework questions related to the lab.
Lesson Title:
History in Rocks (90 minutes)State Standards: GLEs/GSEs
ESS 1 The Earth and earth materials as we know them today have developed over long periods of time, through continual change processes.ESS1 (9-11)—4 Students demonstrate an understanding of processes and change over time by …
National Standards:
Science as Inquiry - Content Standard A: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop- Understandings about scientific inquiry
Earth and Space Science - Content Standard D: As a result of grades 9-12, all students should develop an understanding ofContext of Lesson:
This is the opening lesson to the unit on Evolution. It is important to start the unit on Evolution by addressing the key concepts above because it provides a background on evidence for evolution. We will start by briefly reviewing the formation of the Earth by having students answer a warm-up question, which will activate prior knowledge, serve as a review, and allow misconceptions to be addressed. We will then look at the history in rocks, formation of fossils, fossils as evidence for evolution, and relative and radiometric dating, first by watching video clips, answering questions, and taking notes, and then through class discussions. The video clips provide a real look into the formation of fossils and how scientists use the fossils as evidence for evolution, and how they use the methods discussed to date rocks, which allows students to get a visual for these processes opposed to simply reading about them. Students will also complete the lab “Determining a Rock’s Age," which will give them a hands-on opportunity to further comprehend the dating method and analyze the results.Opportunities to Learn:
Depth of Knowledge
Prerequisite Knowledge
Plans for Differentiating Instruction
Accommodations and modifications
Environmental factors
Materials
- Evolving Ideas: How Do We Know Evolution Happens? (video)
- Becoming a Fossil (video)
- Radiometric Dating (video)
- Question sheets to go with videos
- Shoe boxes with lids
- Pennies
- Graph Paper
Be sure that you can access these videos in school.Objectives:
After this lesson students will be able to:1. Describe the formation of fossils (artifact = written in notes)
2. Explain how scientists use fossils as evidence for evolution (artifact = written in notes)
3. Define relative and radiometric dating (artifact = written in notes)
4. Create a graph of the ½ life of K-40 into Ar-40 (artifact = graph created from lab)
5. Analyze data and make conclusion about radiometric dating (artifact = answers to homework questions).
Instruction:
Opening:
1. As students enter the classroom, the warm-up will be written on the board – “What was the early Earth like, when did it form, and how have scientists come to these conclusions?”2. As students finish the warm-up have them share what they wrote. (pg 369 will provide answers to the first two parts of the question. Students may come up with fossils, research, ice cores, etc. as evidence for scientists to make these conclusions)
3. "Is there a way to confirm the Earth formed this way?" Do not give students the answer. (No, there is not. Rocks cannot provide information about the infancy of the Earth, but they are very important in looking at the diversity of life that has existed on Earth).
4. "Where can we look to get insight into our past?" (rocks, fossils) "How do we learn more about these insights? Is there a way to link them all together?"
5. "By the end of class today, we will know how scientists uncover insights into our past and the process that links all these insights together."
Good opening!
Engagement:
Part 1: Rocks and Fossils - Evidence for Evolution1. Have students watch the video “Evolving Ideas: How do We Know Evolution Happens?” (7 min 4 sec) and provide the following questions to answer in their notebooks: Will you have these questions on the board or transparency so students can answer them during the video?
- How do scientists tell time in geology? (through strata, layering)
- What can we learn from fossil evidence? (evolutionary transitions, ex. wolf to whale, fish to amphibian. Allows evolutionary biologists to piece together ancestors and family trees)
- What other fossils do you think are found in the Valley of Whales that allowed Gingerich to make the conclusion that the desert area was once a sea?
2. Discuss the questions as a class. Have students check and correct, if necessary, the answers they wrote in their notebooks.3. Explain to students that the next video will allow them to see how fossils are formed. Have students watch the video “Becoming a Fossil” (2 min 34 sec) and provide them with the following questions to answer in their notebooks:
- Why do most living things not leave fossils behind?
- How are fossils formed? (page 373 in text has good diagram)
- How are fossils found?
I like this strategy for using videos: Keep videos short and provide students with questions that they can try to answer as they watch.4. Discuss the questions as a class. Have students check and correct, if necessary, the answers they wrote in their notebooks.
Part 2: Dating Rocks
1. "Now that we learned a little bit about rocks and fossils, what must we be able to do in order to make the rocks and fossils useful in understanding our past?" (date them, find their age). "Does anyone have any ideas how this information can be achieved?" (Might get answers about putting them into a machine that identifies the age of the rock, look it up in a book, chemicals in the rocks/fossils, based on where it is found and other rocks around it).
2. Show the video “Radiometric Dating” (1 min 38 sec) and have students take a few notes on the video.
3. After the video ask students if they have a more detailed answer about how to determine the age of rocks. Have students share with the class what they learned in the video (video focuses on radiometric dating).
4. "Before we get a chance to see how radiometric dating works, we are going to look at another method to date rocks."
5. Draw four people on the board (baby, toddler, teen, adult, old person). "By looking at this drawing only, who can put these people in order by age?" "Easy, right? How did you do it?" (By looking at what's around it, look at the picture as a whole). "Scientists use a similar method called relative dating to determine the age of rocks. By looking at what else is around the rock, we can tell which is oldest, youngest, and in the middle." Draw a rock strata on the board. "Who can tell me which rock layer is oldest and which is youngest?" (make sure students understand the bottom layer is oldest and the top is youngest - make the connection to a stack of newspapers piling up in corner of room).
6. "We have one type of rock dating under control, so let's go back to radiometric dating to explore that process."
7. Break up the class into groups of four and have them complete the lab “Determining a Rock’s Age,” on page 386-387 in their textbook.
Are the instructions self-explanatory? If not, you may have to demonstrate the procedure.
8. Have students begin to answer the Analyze and Conclude questions when they complete the lab. What will you be doing during the lab?
Closure:
1. Give the students a 5 minutes warning with 15 minutes to go in class. With ten minutes left bring the class back together.2. Quick review of the difference between relative and radiometric dating. Have students write the definitions in their notebooks to have as a reference.
3. Answer questions one and two as a class from the Analyze and Conclude section of the lab.
4. "What was our goal at the beginning of class?" (Have students recall that we were looking for how scientists uncover insights into our past and the process that links all these insights together) "Did we find an answer?" (Student answers should include dating rocks and using fossils to help explain our past, and the process of evolution as the process that links all the parts of Earth's history.)
5. Have students complete questions three through six for homework.
Good lesson.
Assessment:
1. Formative assessment of student answers to the warm-up.2. Formative assessment of student answers to questions on the video.
3. Formative assessments as students complete the lab.
4. Completed graph from the lab.
5. Completed homework questions related to the lab.
Reflections
(only done after lesson is enacted)Student Work Sample 1 – Approaching Proficiency:
Student Work Sample 2 – Proficient:
Student Work Sample 3 – Exceeds Proficiency:
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